GenealogyTools

Genealogy Software Tutorials for Mac & PC

Ben Sayer

Family Assistant

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The family assistant is a view in the Mac genealogy database software, MacFamilyTree. It consists of three panes:

  1. Person Chart
  2. Person Information
  3. List of Persons

The person chart is a graphical representation of the relatives of a focal person. The focal person is indicated graphically by a rotating, multi-pointed star aura. Related people are connected by arcs. The arcs are labeled with joined rings if the joined people are partners. Those rings will indicate a divorce by having a black circle with a slash. There is also a selected person which may or may not be the focal person. The selected person is indicated by a rotating, dashed line aura. The selected person has a plus sign icon that can be used to add connected people (partner, sibling, or children).

The fields in the person information pane populate with the information for the selected person. Those fields can be edited. The pane also includes the ubiquitous arrow which, if clicked, will take you to the edit view for the selected person.

The list of persons pane is just that. The focal person in the person chart is the focal person in the list of persons. There is a search box in this pane that can be used to quickly move the person chart to a different part of the tree.

The following configuration options exist for the family assistant view:

  • Number of ancestors to include in the person chart (0, 1, or 2)
  • Number of descendants to include in the person chart (0, 1, or 2)
  • Person coloring by generation or gender
  • Include people not in the same genetic lineage
  • Show photos for people when present (instead of the man or woman icons)
  • Speed of animation

This screencast video, Mac Genealogy Software MacFamilyTree Family Assistant, demonstrates all of the above features.

The Secret to Starting Where You Left Off in RootsMagic 3

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Genealogy research time is limited and valuable. So much so that many family historians and genealogists skip right to adding and editing data rather than exploring and setting options in their genealogy database software. This can be a mistake because there are time saving treasures buried in there.

For instance, the default start up behavior in RootsMagic 3 is to return you to the pedigree view with the root person selected. I find that having the program start up where I left off last time—with the person and view—is more efficient. In this video I show you how to set the options in RootsMagic 3 to achieve the same efficiency as well as walking through the other selections in the database options dialog.

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Routine Photo Management Tasks in Reunion 9

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Having photos in your Mac genealogy database program helps bring your family history to life. In the first article and screencast in this series I showed you how to add and remove photos. With that knowledge and experience in place we can move on to performing some other photo management tasks, namely:

  • cropping photos to include only the part we want
  • removing discoloration
  • minimizing fading colors
  • making a photo “preferred”

Launch your copy of genealogy software Reunion 9 for Mac then follow along with this video from the MacGenealogist Archives: Routine Photo Management Tasks in Mac Genealogy Software Reunion 9. After doing so you will have the knowledge and experience to move beyond just having photos. You’ll be ready to improve the quality of your family photos.

If you have any questions about photo management or manipulation please ask. I’ll use your input to add to this series.

Here’s a Quick Way to List Events that Lack Dates in RootsMagic 3

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Few genealogists (okay none really) have a shortage of research goals. Nonetheless, a quick way to find work that needs doing is to find events that lack date or place information. Please open your genealogy data in RootsMagic 3 and follow along with this video. In it I show you how to find those research goals you may be missing.

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How to Add and Remove Photos and Other Media in RootsMagic 3

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Having photos in your RootsMagic 3 genealogy database does more than make them available for reports and charts. It also adds flavor and context when looking at the pedigree and family views. As you can see from the image below, seeing photos brings a pedigree view and one’s family history to life.

In this first screencast in a series, I walk you through the different ways of adding and removing photos in RootsMagic 3 as well as giving some background information and pointers. So grab some family history photos and scan them if they aren’t already, launch RootsMagic, navigate to the appropriate person, then play this video and follow along.

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